KRISTY DUNCAN
Founder of Women in Payments
What does it take to rise from a rural Canadian farm to the global stage of finance - and to build something that changes an entire industry along the way?
Kristy Duncan is a self-starter in the truest sense. In 2012, with no blueprint and no guarantee anyone would show up, she founded Women in Payments - a single event built on the belief that women in financial services deserved better than what the industry was offering them. She hoped fifty women would attend. One hundred and sixty-two walked through the door.
That instinct - to see a gap and build something to fill it - has defined her career. Today, Women in Payments operates across nine markets on six continents. Kristy has spoken in more than twenty countries, been named to the Women in Fintech Power List four times, and in 2025 was appointed to the FinPay Committee of the Canadian Department of Finance.
She is an engineer by training, an entrepreneur by choice, and with Chief Executive OfficeHer, a first-time author with a lot to say.